In late March of this year, Alcor was notified that a member in Pennsylvania had entered into the hospital with severe abdominal pain and was critically ill. As her medical providers predicted that she would probably not survive, Alcor’s Medical Response Director, Aaron Drake and Readiness Coordinator, Steve Graber were on a plane to the east coast within the next three hours.  Upon arrival, the member’s health condition had stabilized and appeared to have improved somewhat.  While optimistic that a recovery might be possible, diagnostic tests and blood labs indicated that a terminal outcome was more probable.  This pause in the patient’s health decline provided an opportunity to request that Suspended Animation respond as well to help perform a field washout and perfusion. 

On the third day of the standby, the member succumbed to her illness. Highly cooperative hospital administrators and physicians allowed the Alcor team to perform stabilization and cool down procedures within the patient’s private hospital room immediately following pronouncement.  The patient was then transferred to a local mortuary where Suspended Animation was set up to complete the next step in the process.  The family had pre-paid additional funds to Alcor for a private jet to eliminate the potential delays associated with commercial air travel.  After a six and half hour flight, the patient arrived at the Scottsdale Airport, located just a few blocks from Alcor Central. Alcor’s surgical team was standing by and performed vitrification procedures throughout the night.  On Saturday, March 26^th, member A-2478 became Alcor’s 104^th patient.

In what has become the busiest 12 months of any previous year in Alcor’s history, we have cryopreserved three additional members during this past month of June.

A-2371, who maintained confidentiality with respect to his membership, resided in Cleveland, Ohio. Alcor initiated an eight-day standby when the member fell critically ill during the month of May. The standby ended when the member’s condition improved and he was inevitably discharged from the hospital. Roughly a month later however, the individual returned to the hospital and was placed on life support. When all efforts to correct his medical issues had failed the family made the decision to discontinue all supportive measures. Anticipating that this action would result in clinical death, the family preferred to wait until the entire team and equipment were in place at the member’s bedside.

Suspended Animation was requested to join Alcor’s Aaron Drake, already on standby, for a full deployment. All team members, including a board certified veterinary vascular surgeon and perfusionist, were in place prior to discontinuing the life support. The member’s health continued to decline for another 18 hours before he was pronounced by hospital staff. Immediate stabilization, cool down and a field washout were performed and the patient was shipped to Alcor by air ambulance. We achieved full perfusion of the brain and an estimated net perfusion of 95%, including the body. On June 11th, A-2371 becomes our 96th patient.
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A-1556, who remains temporarily confidential at the request of the family, was suffering with end-stage dementia in California. The family moved their father to Scottsdale to be close to Alcor in his final days. After a short stay in the hospital, physicians determined the individual could no longer eat or drink and that hospice care was the best option. The member was transferred to a hospice facility that is located only ten minutes from Alcor’s facilities, and a standby was established.

Aaron Drake and various members of Arizona’s response team, along with Sandra Russell from Critical Care Research, rotated shifts over the course of the next six days until the member was pronounced. Immediate bedside stabilization and cool down began with the member being transferred by Alcor’s Rescue Vehicle to a waiting surgical team at Alcor Central. Cryoprotection procedures ensued and we achieved terminal perfusion. On June 24th, A-1556 became Alcor’s 97th patient.
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Alcor member Dr. Darius Nelson, A-2158, practiced medicine in Southern California. He had long suffered from prostate cancer that generated a roller coaster of health issues. While not ill enough to launch a standby, Darius’ health was fragile and Alcor felt it was prudent to pre-position a mini-med kit at his home a few months ago. This was due to his specific circumstances – 24 hour nursing care and cryonics friends that lived close by – both who were willing to assist in administering the medications in the event of an unexpected clinical death.

On Sunday morning, June 27th, after appearing to have a very good day with respect to his health, Darius stopped breathing. His health care provider immediately called Alcor’s emergency number upon confirming his condition and also contacted a local Alcor member who was a close personal friend of Darius. Within the hour, he was pronounced, the pre-positioned medications were administered and the patient was immersed in ice. A local mortuary was called and they transferred the patient to Critical Care Research (CCR) while Southern California team members delivered the remaining med kit. Dr. Harris and his team administered the remaining medications, performed a washout and prepped the patient for transport.

We were faced with a potential straight freeze of this patient because the vital statistics office would not open for another day. To avoid this outcome, we chose to modify our typical whole body surgical procedure. CCR performed a washout on the entire body and isolated the cephalon for immediate transport to Alcor via air ambulance. The trunk was then perfused by CCR, placed on dry ice, and transported to Alcor after the transfer permit was obtained.

Technically we achieved terminal perfusion on both the cephalon and the trunk. However, we remain concerned that the cephalon perfusion statistically appeared less than optimal. Darius is now Alcor’s 98th patient.

This past February, one of the original founders of Suspended Animation, Inc., and long time member of Alcor, David Hayes, suffered a seizure at his home in Florida. As the seizure was witnessed, 911 were called and David was taken to the local Emergency Department. He was pronounced when efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

Due to David’s youthful age of 46, his clinical death was referred to the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s office. Alcor initially tried to prevent the autopsy from occurring, however the medical examiner said he was obligated under the law to perform the autopsy unless the court said otherwise. Through legal counsel, Alcor was successful in negotiating with the courts to allow for a virtual autopsy to be performed in place of the typically more invasive procedure. After a CT scan was performed and the medical examiner was satisfied with the results, they agreed to release the body to Suspended Animation, who was working on Alcor’s behalf.

Since three and a half days had elapsed from the time David was pronounced until Alcor received custody of the body, it was decided that a dry ice shipment through commercial airlines was the best option. Suspended Animation made the arrangements, prepared the shipment and David arrived in Scottsdale the following day. David Hayes (A-1712L) became Alcor’s 92nd patient.

Chihiro Asaumi (Yumi, A-2361), a member of Alcor for about two years, had relocated with her husband to the Scottsdale area. Suffering from metastatic breast cancer, her condition had worsened, apparently after a change in her medication. With surgical intervention no longer an option, she was accepted by Hospice of the Valley on an outpatient basis in late March.

Until Yumi met the requirements for inpatient care, hospice nurses regularly visited her at home. During this time, we communicated almost daily with her husband and the hospice personnel. When it became apparent Yumi had transitioned to the “active dying process,” her husband transferred her to inpatient care at a facility, located about 10 minutes from Alcor central.

The evening before her transfer, we launched a standby, which ultimately lasted four days. She was pronounced on April 14th with the Alcor standby team at her bedside. The emergency stabilization process was begun immediately following pronouncement, and she arrived at Alcor 40 minutes later. She is now in long-term care as Alcor’s 93rd patient.